Comparison of comfort and tear stability with two novel silicone-hydrogel daily disposable contact lenses.

Background: The surface wettability of soft contact lenses (SCLs) affects the wearing comfort. Verofilcon A is a daily disposable silicone hydrogel contact lens with SMARTSURFACE® technology, ensuring high surface wettability.

Purpose: To evaluate tear stability on the surface of verofilcon A and narafilcon A SCLs and correlate these findings with clinical parameters and patients' discomfort.

Methods: Sixty-two SCL wearers (124 eyes) with SCL discomfort were randomly assigned to use narafilcon A (control SCL) and verofilcon A for 2 weeks each by crossover. The noninvasive tear break-up time (NIBUT) of the naked eye at baseline and pre-lens NIBUT (PL-NIBUT) of the SCL surface after 2 weeks of using each SCL were measured using the DR-1α® dry eye observation device. Corneal superficial punctate keratopathy (SPK) (0-3) and conjunctival hyperemia (0-3), and comfort level of SCL wear (1-10) were also evaluated.

Results: NIBUT and PL-NIBUT values were 4.6 ± 2.3 s for the naked eye, 6.6 ± 6.6 s for narafilcon A, and 11.3 ± 3.5 s for verofilcon A. verofilcon A had significantly higher PL-NIBUT than the naked eye and narafilcon A (p < 0.05). SPK (0.16 ± 0.48 vs. 0.00 ± 0.00, p < 0.01) and conjunctival hyperemia (1.15 ± 0.82 vs. 0.49 ± 0.50, p < 0.01) scores were lower when wearing verofilcon A than narafilcon A. The ocular comfort score of wearing SCLs was higher with verofilcon A than with narafilcon A (8.7 ± 1.8 vs. 9.8 ± 0.5, p < 0.01). The ocular comfort score for wearing verofilcon A was higher, regardless of the baseline NIBUT.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed a consistent surface-wetting advantage of verofilcon A in patients with ocular discomfort. verofilcon A was used comfortably in patients with low NIBUT scores at baseline. The findings suggest that verofilcon A is recommended for SCL wearers experiencing SCL-related dry eye symptoms and discomfort.